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ana ten me that yon have beaten
Saunters."
Anfehe revealed the story of the
man's villainy, his robbery of her
aged, and now paralyzed, father in
the business deal which had estab
lished Saunders' supremacy.
Prom that time on Lee thundered
in his paper, which he brought out
three times a week. He showed that
Johnson and Simpson were both
creatures of the boss, and called a
meeting of citizens, at which a man
named Spiers was nominated for
mayor.
Nobody knew anything about
Spiers, except that he had lately
come to Pathways, and appeared to
have plenty of money. A vigorous
campaign was started 'to elect him,
and it was at this juncture that
Saunders came into the office and ad
monished Lee that he had better
cease his opposition.
Saunders showed his hand in many
ways. First, there was the matter of
the, advertisers. Lee saw that it
would take all his capital to hold out
until election day. Then the dailies
of the town were dead against hinv
one for Johnson and" the other for
Simpson, deriding Lee and Spiers.
And the campaign was only half
hearted, for the multitude of candi
dates bewildered the voters.
Finally, Lee was called from his
bed one night to mid his office a mass
of flames. The fire, which was un
doubtedly of incendiary origin, com
pletely gutted the place. The news
paper was a thing of the past, and
there was no capital with which to
start it again.
There was a still greater shock,
however. The fire occurred ten days
before election. Three days later
Spiers, in a pompous manifesto,
withdrew from the race and it was
all over the city by the afternoon that
he, too, had been a creature of Saun
ders. He had been spending the boss'
money while Lee boomed him, and
had from the first intended to withdraw.
Lee went to Elsie In despair and
told her. "The game's up," he said.
"I can't fight this Universal treachery,
and I have no weapon left to fight
with."
"Yes, you have, dear," she an
swered. "You haven't Used your"
strongest weapon at alE""
"What Is that?" he asked.
"Your personality, doar. You have,
not realized that people foDow'a man
more gladly than a principle. You
have appealed with printer's ink, not
with words. You must be the peo
ple's candidate for mayor."
"I?" he cried, aghast
Elsie outlined her plan. He was to
visit every one of the 30t000 houses
in Pathways before election day. He
was to be nominated for mayor. Her
father would back him with the little
money he had remaining. And she
herself and all the; faithful members
of the organization would canvass for
him.
It was a wild scheme, but it hit
Lee's desperate mood. On the fol
lowing day he was already nominated
the people's candidate. What had
been done by the printed word was
now done by word of mouth. Soap
box orators began io appear at all
the street corners. And everywhere
the news of the new campaign began
to stir people's hearts.
The plucky fight that Lee had put
up began to tell. Those who Jiad
hung back or derided him or doubted
were converted at the burning words
that flowed from his lips. Every
hour of the day and far into the night
Lee worked.' He went into the fac
tories, 4ie spoke in front' of the clubs,
he' made personal appeals to all the
leading citizens.
.A feature of the campaign was the
apeparance of old Thomas Sinclair,'
in his wheeled chair. The old man
reminded the people of the dayswhen
he was a power in "the city. Rumors
of the old treachery of the boss began
to spread. Saunders found his power
shaken. .
It seemed a winning cause at last,
--. -. ., .tJijBl